Cherry Bakewell Flapjack Bars - Gluten Free

Delicious, moist, flapjacks with the flavours of a cherry bakewell tart!

Since my daughter had to go on a gluten free diet, we've tried a fair few sweet and savoury snacks - some quite tasty, some... well... let's just say we didn't try them more than once!

If you're gluten free, you're probably aware of how horrendously expensive gluten free products are, with even just the basics often costing in excess of four times their gluten-y equivalent! So, it makes sense to make your own food from scratch, where you can, as it makes the cost a lot more manageable. Even when buying gluten free oats from the supermarket costs four times more than normal oats, you're still making a huge saving on baking your own treats with them - just imagine how much more it costs to buy the finished baked goods gluten free!

Anyway, I digress. There was a nice Bakewell-style slice that my children both liked, and so I came up with a home-made alternative - which I have made using predominantly oats, with plenty of almonds so it's more filling, and a bit healthier than just a cakey slice on top of pastry - plus who wants to make pastry, right?!

Makes 40 bars at 169 calories each (or cut these in half to make mini squares for lunchboxes / treats at 84 calories each, so they're under the 100 calorie mark!) - although if you want to cook fewer / use a smaller tin, you can easily halve this quantity, and just cook for about ten minutes or so less.

Chocolate, Banana and Walnut Porridge with No Added Sugar

OK, so as you can see, I'm adding to the 'oats arsenal' with healthy breakfasts - I figure most people like chocolate, right?

Seeing as I've been quite inventive with oats the last few days, I decided to start keeping a record of what I've been making. Especially as it's what I consider to be pretty healthy breakfasts (especially in comparison to a lot of cereals 'out of the box' marketed at children).

Now, chocolate porridge is never going to be the most attractive-looking food, but this really does taste good! Plus, you can always try and pretty it up by scattering on a few toppings.

Serves two, 363 calories per serving - to reduce the calories, leave out the walnuts and dates, and it will go down to 244 calories per serving.

Pear and Orange Porridge with Sunflower and Poppy Seeds

Here's a little quickie which was thrown together whilst waiting for my children to get up - but it tasted so good (even with no added sugar!) that I had to write it down so that I can make it again!

Also, it's rather healthy stuff because as well as having no added refined sugar, is made from wholegrain cereal with a nutrient boost from the seeds, and if you use almond milk it's dairy free!

Sorry, no photo of the finished article as it got scoffed down before I had a chance, so here's a quick one of the ingredients - but it does look quite pretty for porridge with the little flecks of orange zest in it, and smells absolutely divine!

Serves two, 280 calories per serving using almond milk. (If you want to reduce the calories further, skip the seeds and dates and this will reduce it to 216 calories per serving). N.B. If you use 350ml semi-skimmed milk, this raises the calories to 343 per serving.

Healthy Granola - to suit you!

Everyone loves a healthy, tasty and filling breakfast...

...and the great thing about this granola recipe, is that you can tweak it to suit your own tastes and diet!

Your choice of seeds, nuts and dried fruit - you can switch around the ingredients every time you make it, so it's a little bit different.

Makes 30 portions (approximately 50g each), around 259 calories per portion. Easily halved. Keeps well in an airtight container or re-sealable sandwich bag. Very easy to make!